There are many types of suction-cup-based devices currently on the market, most of which mount adequately to nonporous, glass smooth surfaces. Few, if any, of these devices will mount effectively to nonporous, textured surfaces made of tile, glass, metal or plastics. They generally rely upon a hard shell, soft cup or disc, gasket, lever and spring, or screw knob to produce suction, all of which fail to perform adequately on textured surfaces. The reasons are threefold:
First, typical suction-cup-based devices fail to properly seal to textured mounting surfaces due to the lack of a proper conforming seal and as a result leak paths form causing atmospheric air to infiltrate and negate the vacuum chamber. This lack of intimate engagement with textured surfaces causes inadequate suction and as a result the typical suction-cup-based device may mount for a relatively short duration or not at all on such surfaces. In addition, typical suction-cup-based devices with applied external or open channel perimeter seals can fail due to rolling or creeping of the seal under lateral loads, i.e., loads which are parallel to the native surface either in a vertical or horizontal plane. A native surface is any surface that a suction device may seal or attach to. Under such lateral loading, without a proper mechanical stop the seal will tend to roll and lose intimate contact with the native surface creating a leak path, and the seal may actually break free from the suction cup itself resulting in loss of vacuum and thus failure of the device to hold fast. Also, without a proper mechanical stop very soft seals can creep and distort to the extent that they can no longer maintain intimate contact with the native surface and will likewise fail.
Second, typical suction-cup-based devices fail to resist lateral slippage (i.e., parallel to the native textured surface) due to a lack of design structures on their interior surfaces that would apply additional mechanical friction. A typical suction-cup-based device's smooth interior surface does not effectively conform to or grip the uneven contours of a textured mounting surface. As a result there is less frictional contact with the native surface with which to resist sliding.
Third, typical suction-cup-based devices do not incorporate an ancillary mechanism with which to apply additional mechanical friction to the superstructure proportional to increases in lateral loading which might mitigate lateral slippage of the device parallel to the native surface. This is a particular problem on textured surfaces due to the lack of grip between the typically smooth interior surface of a suction-cup-based device and the uneven native surface. Vacuum forces that might hold a 5 pound weight on a vertical glass smooth surface are generally insufficient to hold the same weight on a vertical textured surface.
Consumers need a reliable suction device that will hold fast on a variety of nonporous surfaces, smooth and textured alike. There are no known suction-cup-based devices currently on the market that will adequately accomplish this. Therefore a unique suction device that overcomes these challenges is desirable.
Therefore a non-suction cup device that overcomes the above described and other disadvantages is needed.